Little Cousins, Big Snow - The Vermont Olympics Part 4

The Vermont Olympics: Today's Event:
"Little Cousins"
Requirements: You are Estelle's first cousin, but you aren't old enough to change Léna's diaper. (Or you are young enough to think it is really gross and wouldn't want to).
We have:
1 Honorary Animal Medal
2 Bronze Medals 2 Silver Medals 1 Gold Medal, and one
Sacred and Holy Gold Medal to Mother Nature for providing lots and lots of our favorite thing in the world in the wintertime: snow.
Here are a bunch of photos from different days and places showing how much we enjoyed it.

Léna's baptism in snow!
Less than 24 hours after our arrival, here we were, out in the white stuff.
Bronze cousin Medal to "Baby" Elijah, who allowed himself to be chased.
Out and about.
Inspecting a prop for the Runaway Pond Bicentential.
When I was little, there were always a lot of people to pull me up the hill. And the hill I slid on as a kid was a heck of a lot bigger than what you see in these photos. I was spoiled.

Making snow angels:
Joanie and Lena hunker down:
Silver Medal to Cousin Wayne, for being a great buddy and surveillor of Estelle for 2 weeks. She loved being with him.
The girl was ready for action:
Wayne & Estelle starting off:
The view from above
Mart, Wayne & Cole (hidden)
More Sliding party guests - Darlene & HEatherMartha insists on taking Léna down the bunny slope.
Playing King of the Mountain on the plow drifts:

Spike rolls in the snow.. (Honorary Medal Mention for Spike, who cannot compete in these Olympics since he isn't human, but Estelle likes him) (sort of)
Heading to the pond:
Cedric gives Estelle a ride in the snow scoop

Now Wes pulls both little girls:
By the way, that red coat used to be my Dad's. See footnote for Cousin Heather.

Skates!Darlene helps with the milkcrates...
Silver Medal for the most patient cousin ever, Cole. Here he is with Estelle waiting for a ride on my Dad's trackster that Wes keeps running...
A snowman at Martha's, the day before the big storm.
The Big Storm:


Bronze Medal to Jacob, who is sort of inbetween the "Big Cousin" and the "Little Cousin" category. He managed Estelle and her 3rd cousin Asa on morning quite handily, not to mention braving a blizzard so Estelle could roll around in......fresh, beautiful powdered snow.


This was a slice of heaven for Estelle. She was totally enraptured.
During this storm, Estelle also got to drive the tractor plow John Deere with Uncle Chris:
And make a snowman with glamour:
And dig with a shovel:

Last, but certainly not least, GOLD MEDAL to Heather, for being Estelle's best friend and playmate every single day in Vermont. Some mornings Estelle came into my bed at 7 a.m. and said "Mommy, call Aunt Darlene right now and tell Heather to come and play with me right now. Mommy. Call. Right now. Mommy. Call." 5 months apart in age, these girls had some fun - some fights too, but mostly fun! Here are photos of them - NOT in snow.











Thank you Heather! We love you, and ALL our little cousins!

No Child(ren's Book) Left Behind

Today's Vermont Olympic Event: Reading to Estelle
I had an epiphany during my trip to Vermont last month: there's a reason why I'm so smart, I mean, why I like to read - I think I was read to A LOT as a child. The same people who read to me back then spent a lot of time reading to my daughter during snowy days in New England. Some mornings, it lasted over an hour, book after book. What a gift.

Gold Medal Ties to my Mom and Joanie, who never ever said no. And Joan gets an extra special Dorothy Canfield Fisher for having the most amazing private children's library in a house.
My hands-down favorite: the resurrected Blueberry Pie Elf. Because no one can see an elf, no one can feel and elf, and no one can hear an elf.
Often times the pink afghan knit by my OWN grandmother was necessary.
Sometimes those silly Olympics in Vancouver distracted us...
Dr. Seuss was not to be outdone by some silly Elf.Sometimes the ladies coordinated their outfits for the occasion, like reading a compilation of Little Golden Books here in this photo.
Often the whole crowd got involved:Sometimes the story made the listeners a little tad sad.....
Very often we were snuggled in bed. SILVER MEDAL to Martha for pulling out some incredibly worn and loved books from her own children's childhood, held together with brittle masking tape, many of which I had never heard of. Different era, different books...Bronze medal to Uncle Wes for taking one for the team and reading a funny nonsense rhyming book.
Another Bronze to Uncle Cedric for coming on Valentine's Day in a red sweater and reading stories where every character had different voices that captivated the imagination.
Runner Up Bronzes to everyone who read to Léna, who began to improve her vocabulary and comprehension skills:Goodnight Moon....

Billy Goat Gruff...
Two and a half weeks later, every single day, Estelle speaks of something that she heard in a story in Vermont. Both Thomas and I are stunned at her ability to recollect, and the way she continues to make connections between characters, plot lines, rhymes etc from all those tales and something she runs across in the moment.
Thank you to all those readers out there. Estelle has a T-shirt that her cousin Wayne gave her: "Love Me, Read a Book to Me." No doubt Estelle is loved!